Polls, Surveys, and Quizzes

Part 1 of a 6-part series on Creating a Quiz as a Lead Magnet.

Today I hear the words polls, quizzes, and surveys used interchangeably, but they aren’t the same things at all.  Each has a different feel and provides a different outcome.  Let’s look at them individually.

Polls

Surveys

Surveys are used for data gathering.  They are often the longest of the 3 and have a multitude of question types including multiple-choice, rankings, scoring or even text answers. Surveys have a feel of “tell me something I need to know” rather than “get your results”.  

Surveys are most often used either before or after something has happened. For instance, surveys are useful tools when planning an event to find out what your audience wants/needs – and are also used post-event to see how you performed.

Quizzes

Quizzes come in 2 main formats.  There is the quiz at the end of an online course which gives you your grade and allows you to move to the next module, and there is the more ‘fun’ variation of quizzes that are often seen on Facebook and other platforms.  Since this article is all about creating a quiz as lead magnet, we will focus our efforts on the latter.

One thing all quizzes have in common is that there is a grading component.  You take a quiz to see how you rate, to see what your results are.  There is a sense of expectation, and when quizzes are done right, a desire to share your results with others.  You want to see the results of your quiz. Most often with surveys, you are performing the task for someone else, however, with a quiz – you are doing it because you want to.

In our next article, we will discuss the four main quiz styles, and which style is best for you